Forbidden Love
by Golden Snitch1981
Summary: HE was a public school kid. She was a private school girl. He was athletic and funny. She was smart and talented. Yet the were drawn to eachother. The only problem was his Mom married her Dad.
1. Let's All Come In

When we were kids, we used to play a game called "Let's All Come In". It had been one of Karen Brewer's kooky ideas, something we all just went along with. She loved to dress up as all these different characters that would come to stay in this big fancy hotel. Usually, I was the Bell Hop, but that was okay. If I had to be one of Karen's offsiders, in one of her roles, I would want to scream. Alot of the time she used to pick Andrew or Linny Papadakis.

Alas, one day I was the one wanted as her "pretend" husband. Once again she would play a beautiful rich Movie star, who married beneath her. I was supposed to be a Screenplay writer that she met on her last film. She would take my arm and lead me through the main entrance of our big house to a makeshift Reception Desk where Hannie Papadakis would write our names in the big book and give us a set of Keys. Andrew would then take our luggage and lead us away to our new room.

"Do you like being my husband?" Karen asked me?

"Well I, I guess." I wasn't sure how I was supposed to answer that question.

"Well usually husbands kiss their wives, like my Daddy does with your Mommy." She inched closer to me and took my hand in hers.

Was she kidding? "Does Linny kiss you?"

"Sometimes," Karen said with an embarrassed smile.

"Well what about Andrew?" I said, dreading the answer to this question.

"Ew! He's my brother!" She made a sour face.

Phew! I thought. There's hope of getting out of this after all. "Well aren't I your brother, too?"

"Not really, David Michael. Your Mommy married my Daddy, which makes us STEP brother and sister." Her explanation just made me more confused.

"So we're still brother and sister?" I dared to ask.

"No, No, NO! No silly, we're only Brother and sister because our parents got married. My Daddy and your Mommy. You have a Mommy and a Daddy, somewhere and I have my own Mommy and Daddy." I had no way of arguing myself out of that.

"We're STEP brother and sister not REAL brother and sister!" I smiled, because i finally understood it.

There was a long silence and I was hoping Karen had forgotten the thing she had asked me to do.

Karen broke the silence. "So are you going to kiss me like a husband and wife, or not?"

"Do I have to?" I squeaked. The thought of kissing a girl was making me heave. I was nine and she was eight. We were just kids and she wanted to kiss like adults.

"Yes," she said, grabbing my face and pulling me towards her, until our lips met. They were wet and sticky from the ice-cream, Kristy had given us. At first I was resisting and I couldn't wait until it was over, but then a new feeling washed over me. It started to feel nice and I was beginning to understand why my brothers, Charlie and Sam liked kissing girls so much.

It ended too soon and she pulled her lips away from mine. "Now change your clothes." She said. "I want you to be a sailor this time and I'll be a jazz singer." It was as if the kiss never happened. I found the sailor shirt in Karen's Dress-up box and threw it on over my old polo shirt. She buttoned it up, before she threw on another of her sparkly Dresses. Then she linked her arm in mine and I carried all the bags downstairs for another round of "Let's All Come In".


	2. Honeymoon Disaster

Kissing Karen Brewer became a regular occurrence when ever we played one of her games of pretend. It became less about "Let's All Come In" and more about "Weddings", one of her newer crazes. The first time we ever "got married", was before Mom and Watson's wedding. It had been Kristy's Idea, as a way of helping us all to understand what was happening between Mom and my new Step-father. Karen was the bride and I was the groom.

But at nine and ten, we were older than that by the time the kissing started. We would play the game, pretending to be the bride and groom and we would go off on our "Honeymoon" in Karen's room. Her bed was fit for a princess, fitted with pink and white lace covers.

She would push me down onto the bed and lay beside me, kissing my lips. I decided to try what I had seen Sam do to his girlfriend, Stacey. I put my hand on her waiste and moved it around touching her stomach. Karen was putting her fingers through my hair. Then like Sam did to Stacey I moved my hands up to her chest. Where were the bump? Stacey had bumps. Even Kristy had bumps, but Karen didn't seem to have them. I decided to pull the strap of her "Wedding Dress" down her shoulder so the front of it would hopefully reveal the missing bumps, but before I could look to see if they were there, I felt my face jolt. My cheek burned from where Karen had slapped me.

"What did I do?" I asked in shock. Karen was now sitting on the end of the bed, fixing her dress. "Where are your bumps, Karen?"

"GET OUT!" She screamed. She was pointing at the door, yelling "GET OUT! GET OUT! GET! OUT!"

"But –," I began. I was confused. "Karen, please don't be mad!"

My pleas fell on deaf ears. "OUT! I'm divorcing you!"

"But we're not really married," I protested.

"FINE!" I was barely on my feet and Karen was pushing me towards the door. When I was across the threshold, Karen slammed the door, yelling, "Game over!"

Embarrassed, I scurried off to my room, closing the door behind me. I flopped on the bed and sulked there for the rest of the day.

The next day, Karen would go back to the "little house" and I wouldn't see her for two weeks. I hoped she wouldn't be still mad and two weeks time. The day Karen and Andrew were dropped off by their mother, Karen looked at me sheepishly. Her blue eyes were large and round behind her pink framed glasses. She in fact looked a little scared.

"Karen, come with me," I pleaded. She followed me up the stairs to my bedroom, which was quite as pretty as hers. "Karen, I'm so sorry I mad you mad. I don't know what I did wrong. I was copying Sam and Stacey."

"It's okay David Michael. I'm sorry I yelled at you." She replied. Then she hugged me tight. I was shocked, but relieved that she wasn't mad anymore. I wrapped my arms around her in a hug.

Then she kissed me. This time I was careful not to touch her. I knew it made her mad for a reason I didn't know.

"Karen, please don't be mad, but where are your bumps?" Karen looked at me like she was going to slap me again but her expression changed.

"I don't have any yet, silly!" She giggled nervously and I joined in. Soon we were in a fit of laughter.

"I can't believe you went looking for my bumps." She laughed even harder at this.

"I can't believe you slapped me and told me we were divorced."

"Well aren't we silly!" She exclaimed.


	3. Bumps!

I never did try to look for Karen's bumps again. As Karen neared her eleventh birthday, she stopped suggesting we play "Weddings" or "Let's All Come In" and all her other pretend games. On the verge of entering Junior High, she was starting to grow up. I guess in some ways, I was too.

Karen would be off to Stoneybrook Academy and I would go to Stoneybrook Middle School, as my brothers and sister had, before me. Kristy's club had been disbanded for at least a year, but Stacey still came to our house to see Sam, mainly. Stacey sometimes still babysat for Andrew and Emily-Michelle, as did Mary-Anne and Abby, but when Stacey was there, Karen and I were always glad, because she and Sam would do their own thing together, leaving me to be alone with Karen.

Nobody knew about our kissing and I hoped they would never find out. What would they say? Mom and Watson had done their best to raise us as brother and sister and I knew we would be in so much trouble for the way we played together.

It was Saturday night and we would be starting Junior High the following Monday. Mom and Watson were out at the Country Club, Kristy was out with Abby and Bart and Stacey was once again our sitter. She and Sam were busy in the Rec room watching "Bring it on". We started to watch it with them, but were soon bored and decided to spy on them instead.

So we hid in the stairwell, where we could just peek through the doorway into the room, where they were snuggled on the couch. Their lips were locked in yet another long kiss and Sam was rubbing Stacey's bumps again. Karen began to giggle, but I put my hand over her mouth to stifle it. "I don't want them to hear us!" I whispered. Karen nodded and I took my hand away as we kept focused on the two of them. Stacey was arching slightly as Sam's hand disappeared under her halter top.

"Oh my God!" Karen whispered. She looked halfway between horrified and slightly amused. Then Sam's hand disappeared downwards and Stacey clung tightly to him. We couldn't see where Sam's hand went, only Stacey squirming.

"What you doing?" Emily's voice broke our silence. We were both too embarrassed. What were we supposed to tell our five year-old- sister?

"Nothing, Em. Go play with Andrew, will you." I suggested.

"Okay," Emily replied and, none the wiser, she went to find Andrew.

"I'm bored with them," Karen whispered, after Emily was gone from sight. "Let's go talk."

"Okay," I agreed, knowing that when Karen said that it always meant she wanted to kiss and that was okay with me.

In here room, though, Karen was searching through her wardrobe. "What should I wear to school tomorrow?" she asked. I shrugged.

"Don't you guys wear a uniform?" I asked. At Stoneybrook Day School where Bart and Shannon went, they wore a blue and white uniform.

"No way!" Karen cried. "As if!" Then she pulled out a pair of jeans and a purple blouse.

"Why not just wear a turtleneck and be Kristy," I joked.

"That bad?" she asked.

I nodded. "Sorry. The blouse is nice though."

"Okay, what should I wear it with?" Karen asked. She was gesturing at her closet like there was nothing there. "You pick something, then."

I stood up and moved from my place near the bed and approached the closet. I sifted through the rack of garments. There was so many pretty blouses and tops in there that I had seen Karen wear. I paused at the little yellow dress that hung at the end of the row. It was Karen's dress from the Wedding. He stared at it as the memories washed over him. He hadn't wanted his Mom to remarry and he didn't want another sister, or a brother. He smiled, glad that Watson had became like a Dad to him. It had brought him closer to Karen, especially.

"I am so not wearing THAT! Besides it's too small." Karen cut into to his reverie.

"I didn't think you would. It's definitely not for school, not in Junior High anyway," he said, thinking of another certain little princess he knew who wore that sort of thing everyday, still at eight years in the third grade. Would SHE ever grow out of the prissy look? Jenny Preziozzo was such a spoilt little snob. She was always dressed so fancy to go to school and she followed me everywhere at lunch, like a lost puppy. I was so glad I wouldn't have to deal with HER anymore. Karen could be a princess at times, but she was nowhere near as prissy as Jenny and definitely less annoying, too.

I started reefing all the garments back the other way, when I found a simple black and purple skirt. I held it up to Karen against the hem of her blouse. It was so short!

Karen however loved it! "David Michael, you a genius!" she cried, taking it from him and laying the blouse and skirt on the bed.

"Go try it on!" I suggested. I was curious. I wanted to see how it would look on her.

"Okay!" She picked up both garments and disappeared into her bathroom. When she emerged, I was stunned. The blouse and skirt, looked better than I thought. She looked amazing. The skirt fell inches above her knees and showed off her long legs well. Her blouse hugged her body, showing,to my surprise, bumps?

They were the smallest I've seen, but they were there!


	4. Stacey and Sam

"Karen, you've got bumps!" I exclaimed, excited.

"Really?" she asked. She looked down. Then she ran her hands down her body, turning side on to look at herself in the mirror. "Oh my god! I do have bumps!" She exclaimed.

I stepped closer to her. "Can I touch them?" I asked.

She stepped back, looking cross. "No you can not!"

"But I want to know what they feel like." I protested.

"No!" She was covering them with her hands and backing away.

"Please! Sam touches Stacey's!"

"No! I told you, No!" She shouted and dashed into the bathroom to change back into her nightclothes.

I sat sulking on the bed as I waited. What was the big deal anyway? It was okay when Sam did it to Stacey, so why wouldn't Karen let me?

Karen emerged and stood next to the bed. I stood up so I was inches away from her.

"Can I kiss you?" I asked.

"Yes," she answered. Our lips met. My hands crept up her back and hers were in my hair. Then when we were so into it, I thought I was chance it and crept my hand lightly around to her front. The felt so soft, so jelly like and I knew now, why Sam liked Stacey's so much.

Then Karen pushed me away hard so I had fallen, hitting my head against the wall. "I told you not to, David Michael!"

"I'm sorry!" I was trying to stand. "I don't know what I was doing!"

"Yes you do! You were tricking me!" She screamed! "Get out of my room! From now one we are just STEP brother and sister and that's all! Not friends or anything else! I HATE you!"

"FINE!" I yelled back, dashing from her room as she slammed the door. It echoed down the large hall and shook the whole house. So I sat I stairs, sulking and watching Sam and Stacey who were doing more than kissing on the couch downstairs. She was now sitting on his lap and bouncing, smiling and completely oblivious to anyone or anything. Stacey's top was down and Sam's hands were all over her half naked body, barely covering her bumps. Ew! He was kissing them and his hands had disappeared, but his arms were wrapped around her tight. Then she screamed and he yelped in pain.

Stacey collapsed against my brother and all was quiet except for the music that blared from the TV as the end credits rolled. Then the opened and slammed shut in the kitchen, which led to the garage. The pair of them sprang into life, hastily putting clothes back on and fixing Stacey's top, before Sam stood up and organized the video. Emily-Michelle and Andrew had gone to bed earlier, so it was them two and I still awake. I slunk away to my room and pretended to be asleep when Mom opened my door to look in on me.

"I can't believe my little man's growing up," she sighed before closing the door.

I crept out of bed towards the window where I saw Sam and Stacey walk out to his car, which was parked on the curb. He opened her door and she climbed in the passenger seat. He then walked around to the driver's side and climbed in. It was parked there for quite some time, before Sam started up the engine. When his red Ford Festiva had disappeared around the corner, I climbed back into bed and tried to fall asleep. Eventually my eyes weakened and I was drifting off. Even in my dreams all I could think about was Karen and her stupid Bumps. They were nowhere near the size of Stacey's, yet Karen was so protective of them like they were some sort of treasure. Perhaps they were to Karen because they were so new.


	5. Junior High

Karen barely spoke to me after that night. She went off to her snooty private school and I started Junior High at Stoneybrook Middle School. I could imagine Karen in her purple blouse and purple and black skirt that I had picked for her to wear. I hoped she still wore it. I was so busy thinking about Karen, when I was walking through the halls, looking for my locker, that I didn't see someone else watching my every step. I jumped when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Hi David Michael!" I stared into the brown eyes that could only belong to Charlotte Johansson. Charlotte was in my grade when we were kids, but like Karen, she was so smart, they skipped her ahead a grade. I hadn't seen her much, since Kristy's club broke up.

"Hey, Charlotte. How have you been?" I asked, not sure what else to say.

"I well, how about you?" she asked. "Have you found your locker yet? Let's walk."

"Okay," I agreed, happy for someone to talk to and take my mind off Karen. "So fill me in on this place, Char!"

"Well, over there," she pointed to a group of cheerleeders, "is Haley Braddock, Remember her?" I nodded. "Well she's head cheerleader and there's," there began to be a hint of sadness in her voice, "Becca Ramsey."

"Wait," I exclaimed. "BECCA?"

"Yup." Charlotte's voice took on an indignant tone. Then she quickly changed the subject. "Oh and over there is Vanessa Pike. She's the biggest ho in the eighth grade. Every boy has kissed her and some say they've done more than kissing with Vanessa."

"Oh my god! Vanessa used to always be so quiet." I whispered, afraid that she might hear me if I talked to loud.

"Not anymore. Junior High's really changed her." Charlotte sighed. "It's changed a lot of people..." she stared off in the direction of the cheerleeders, where Becca was flirting with Shea Rodowski, who was enjoying the attention.

"Hey look! There's Shea!" I exclaimed. His brother Jackie was staring Junior High the same year as me, along with Nicky Pike and Norman Hill. "Hi Rodowski!" I called. Charlotte cringed when Shea and all of the cheerleeders turned to see who had called his name. He gave a quick wave and Shea waved back. Becca, hoever was glaring at Charlotte who was returning the icy glare.

"Gee, what happened between you two? Weren't you and Becca best friends." I asked, as she dragged me away.

"Becca happened." Charlotte bit her lip. "She's not the same sweet Becca any more. She's changed as you can see." That was all Charlotte would say and I had to accept that I would not get any answers from her.

"Wow!" I exclaimed in shock. "Oh, here's my locker." I stopped infront of the locker with the corresponding number to my timetable.

"Cool! Mine's on the end of this row! I guess we're locker buddies then." Charlotte said. There was a bit more cheer in her voice.

"I'm cool with that," I replied and began to negotiate my locker.

"Hey, I've gotta get to class. I'll see you later." She said looking at her watch.

"Okay, bye Charlotte!" I watched her disappear into the crowd.

So far it was shaping up to be a good year. I just wished Karen wasn't mad at me so I could tell her about it the weekend she visited.

Karen however was still as mad at me as the night we fought. She barely spoke to me at dinner and when Dinner was over, she spent most of her time in her room. On Saturday she left early in the morning and spent the day with Hannie and didn't come home until just before dinner. Then once again she disappeared into her room. The next afternoon Karen and Andrew were picked up by Karen's step father and I didn't see her again for two weeks.


	6. Growing Up

I eased into the seventh grade. With Nick Pike and Buddy Barret as my two best pals, I never had too much trouble. They were always there to back me up and we had become the three musketeers. Besides those two, I always had Charlotte to talk to. She had become a sort of outsider in her grade so she would eat with the boys and me.

It wasn't until a few weeks later that I found out she had a crush on me. We had gone to a party at the Pike house and she cried when I told her about my Karen woes. Feeling sorry for her, I kissed her and we tried to go steady. Charlotte wasn't quite as shy about her bumps as Karen was. I suppose that was because her Mom is a Doctor and would have explained things to Charlotte about her body. When we went to the movies, she let me touch them in the dark cinema.

They were more developed than Karen's. They were soft under my touch and I thought I was in Heaven. A nagging thought kept entering my mind as my hand wandered down Charlotte's top. I wished it was Karen, sitting beside me. In stead she was at the "little house" that weekend. Even if it was "Big House" weekend she still would be else where instead of in the cinema with me. Instead it was Charlotte beside me and I had created the mess when I first kissed her.

It was no secret that Charlotte and I were an item. The guys on the football team teased me about it, endlessly. Mostly it was banter about dating an older girl. I didn't have to heart to tell them Charlotte was the same age as me. That little detail was blurted out by Jack Rodowski who took great pleasure in my red cheeks. Jack and I were rivals. I never knew it until years later, that the reason he hated me was because he was interested in Charlotte. Charlotte, because of her feelings for me, didn't even notice his existence.

It all came to a head when we graduated from Junior High. I couldn't take it anymore and broke it off with Charlotte. I didn't love her like I did Karen and I knew it wasn't fair. Charlotte was one of my best friends, but I wasn't happy with her as my girlfriend. Jackie found out and punched me out on graduation day. Not long after that they began seeing each other and I lost Charlotte as a best friend as well.

Karen had gotten over the hate she had for me and we were friends again, but she was in a steady relationship with Linny Papadakis, Hannie's brother. I was glad she didn't hate me anymore, but I still wanted more. I wanted to kiss Karen like we used to.

A lot of things changed for use that summer. Karen's Mom died suddenly in a car accident and not long after that, Watson lost his Job. Because of this, Karen was attending Stoneybrook High School with me and Andrew started Stoneybrook Middle School. It was an awful time for them both, but Karen took it all especially hard. She confided in me a lot over the following months.

What made things worse was that Jack had spread it all over the school that I liked Karen and we were teased about liking each other more than a brother and sister should.

"He's only my STEP brother," Karen retorted, "And besides. I'm going out with Linny. The words cut into my heart, like a jagged knife.

Then one day in sophomore year it happened. Linny dumped Karen and we decided to go to the dance together. We had the best time, although Karen was clearly heartbroken about Linny. A slow song came on, which I'll remember forever. Vanessa Williams' voice filled the auditorium with the words "you went and saved the best for last..." and Karen was crying on my shoulder as I held her. Sensing she needed to go somewhere quiet, I led her out to the stairwell in the hall andcradled her in my arms.

"What's wrong with me, David Michael?" Why can't I let anyone love me? Its my fault he dumped me."

"Linny's the ass, Karen. He doesn't know what he lost." My heart ached with every word I uttered. Couldn't she see how amazing she was? Linny obviously couldn't. "Karen we never talked about what happened between us, but I was an idiot to treat you as I did."

"I was the idiot, David Michael. You always liked me and probably loved me." I nodded. " I got cross with you but I didn't explain why."

"It's okay Karen. You don't have to. I pushed you. I was selfish." She took my hand.

"It's so stupid, David Michael. We were curious kids." She squeezed my hand, sending tingles through my body.

"Do you want to start again, slowly?" I asked. She nodded and then before I knew it she was kissing me. "Let's never fight again, David Michael."

I hoped we never would.


End file.
